Bharti Airtel's Q2 profit surges 3-fold to ₹3,593 cr on strong growth in India, Africa

Bharti Airtel reported nearly threefold year-on-year growth in Q2 FY25 net profit, reaching ₹3,593 crore, up from ₹1,341 crore, driven by strong performance across its India and Africa operations, according to an exchange filing.

The company’s consolidated net profit rose 98.4% year-on-year to ₹4,153 crore, from ₹2,093 crore in Q2 FY23. However, it marked a 12% sequential decline from ₹4,717 crore in the June quarter. The company’s Q2 performance was supported by tariff hikes, enhanced ARPU, and ongoing customer shifts from 2G to 4G.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose 12% to ₹41,473 crore in the July-September quarter, as tariff hikes, improved ARPU, and rising customer additions supported growth.

“The flow thru of tariff repair is in-line with our expectation on ARPU increase and SIM consolidation. We reported industry leading ARPU of ₹233,” said Gopal Vittal, MD, Bharti Airtel in an official statement.

Among expenses, licence and spectrum charges saw a 16.9% rise, moving from ₹2,964 crore to ₹3,466 crore. Network operating expenses also increased, up 7.9% to ₹8,011 crore from ₹7,424 crore.

Airtel’s customer base reached 563 million across 15 countries, with India contributing 407 million and Africa 157 million. In India, average monthly mobile data usage rose 22.6% to 23.9 GB per customer.

Airtel’s mobile services revenue in India grew 18.5% year-on-year, driven by higher realisations, tariff hikes, and a growing smartphone user base. The company added 4.2 million smartphone data customers this quarter, increasing smartphone penetration to 75% of its mobile base. Overall revenue from India rose 16.9% to ₹31,561 crore.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) for the mobile segment climbed to ₹233, up from ₹203 last year, as data usage per customer surged 22.6% to 23.9 GB per month, with Airtel focusing on optimising its customer mix and transitioning 2G users to 4G.

Airtel’s Homes business reported a 17.3% year-on-year revenue increase, supported by 5.83 lakh new customer additions, which raised the segment’s subscriber base to 8.6 million. Airtel Business also posted solid results, with a 10.7% year-on-year revenue increase driven by demand for enterprise solutions. The Digital TV segment showed modest 1% growth.

In Africa, Airtel recorded a 20.8% revenue increase in constant currency terms. However, macroeconomic pressures weighed on profitability, with EBITDA and EBIT margins in the region contracting by 201 and 226 basis points, respectively.

Airtel’s consolidated EBITDA rose 12% year-on-year to ₹22,021 crore, with a margin of 53.1%. The India segment reported an even stronger EBITDA margin of 54.8%, reflecting an 86-basis-point improvement due to operational efficiencies. Airtel’s ongoing network expansion added 5,000 towers and 15,200 mobile broadband stations during the quarter, supported by the deployment of new spectrum acquired in June.

Airtel prepaid ₹8,465 crore in deferred spectrum liabilities to the Department of Telecom, reducing interest expenses on these 2016 liabilities, initially at 9.3%. Its Net Debt-EBITDA ratio stands at 2.50x as of September 30, 2024.

Shares of Bharti Airtel closed slightly lower by 0.16% at ₹1,663.35 on the NSE today.